July 26, 2013

DeMarco Murray, who unloaded on safety Barry Church in practice, is more physical than Cowboys thought

Running back DeMarco Murray has missed nine games his first two years with the Cowboys, causing some people to question his durability.

Fair or not, it's a knock that goes back to his college days at Oklahoma.

But one thing the Cowboys have found out not to question is Murray's toughness and physicality.

"DeMarco is a guy, just to be honest with you, he’s probably a much more physical player than we thought he was coming out," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "We saw a guy who was really, really productive. He ran the ball well. He caught the ball well. He played at different spots, was a good blocker. He just had production as a runner, as a receiver, scoring touchdowns throughout his career. I think if we’re all honest with ourselves I don’t know if we all really, really thought he was going to be as physical a runner as he’s turned out to be. His best trait as a runner is he finishes runs. The great runners do that. It’s just his nature. It’s his demeanor.

"And I’ll be honest with you, the first couple of days in practice, the linebackers were getting after our backs in pass protection. Sometimes it works to the defense’s advantage when you have no shoulder pads on. It’s harder for the guy to defend himself. But we had a play that we showed to the team where Barry Church, who has had a heck of a practice, a heck of camp, comes blitzing and DeMarco Murray steps up and he literally knocks his helmet off. That’s the kind of natural physicalness he has as a player."